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FAQs on FAQs: chat and e-mail integrations

<p>Hi all! Lots of you are getting <a href="http://docs.libraryh3lp.com/faq-intro">FAQ sites</a> going. Adding questions. Customizing. Branding. We are really impressed by all the creativity!<br /><br />To help everyone get the most out of their FAQ site (or sites - plural - you get unlimited FAQs at no additional charge with every LibraryH3lp account), we'll blog regularly in the coming weeks about FAQ-related topics - including HTML, CSS, and quite possibly some JavaScript. We're calling the series FAQs on FAQs and hope you will find it a useful source of information and inspiration.<br /><br />Today's installment covers the automagic <a href="http://docs.libraryh3lp.com/faq-integrations">chat and e-mail integrations within your FAQ site</a>. Let's go!<br /><br />Each FAQ site is <a href="http://docs.libraryh3lp.com/faq-configuration">associated with a queue and an e-mail address</a>, making it easier for patrons to find answers using three communication methods. The FAQs cover pre-canned commonly asked questions. Chat gives patrons  real-time access to librarians. E-mail lets patrons ask questions when your virtual reference service is unavailable or if they aren't interested in using chat.<br /><br />The automagicness happens in two key areas within your FAQ site - the "Ask Us" button and the "Not finding what you need? Contact us!" link at the bottom of every page  Both of these elements know when your queue is available, showing chat when virtual reference is available and an e-mail contact form otherwise. No fancy programming needed on your end. It just works.<br /><br />A third area, the right sidebar, includes separate links for "Real-time chat" and e-mail.  This way patrons can see at a glance whether or not the chat service is online. And they can always opt to email instead of chat.  The "Real-time chat" link can be customized any way you'd like, and it is not clickable when the chat service is offline.<br /><br />Want more than just a patron's name,  e-mail address, and question when patrons use the e-mail form? Sure! <a href="http://docs.libraryh3lp.com/faq-integrations#email">Edit the email.html template and add any additional HTML form field you'd like</a>.<br /><br />Have any suggestions for the FAQs on FAQs series? Want to get your own FAQ site set up? <a href="mailto:support@libraryh3lp.com" target="_blank">E-mail support</a> and we'll make it happen. :-)</p>

Hi all! Lots of you are getting FAQ sites going. Adding questions. Customizing. Branding. We are really impressed by all the creativity! To...

Scheduled US server downtime morning of Wed, March 13

We're planning for 15-20 minutes of downtime tomorrow morning (Wednesday, March 13) around 7am Eastern time for our main US server. We ...

Important webchat client updates

<p><div>Happy Monday! We've rolled out an updated version of our native <a href="http://docs.libraryh3lp.com/clients-web.html" target="_blank">webchat client</a>.  This release includes significant improvements that simplify staffing workflows and increase robustness.  Let's take a look!<br /><br /><b>Flexible queue selection dialog.</b>  Have a lot of queues?  We've placed a time-saving "Select All/None" checkbox near the top.  And if you happen to have a loooooong list of queues, you'll get a scrollbar to more easily navigate the list on a variety of screen sizes.</div><div><span style="text-align: center;"><br /></span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGE8Zsy5MEnSsRFcgGHA5uRv8zziO2aMCS5VZEELFV464u1Bi9Nx5ylFJBwPXkvDvwD2g6Y-cAvrJ2DX2Qh-fIuaxJyeNeKBVAoEw87Daf9NI5c2IIO3E1wm8BUo4DZBkSb_yA8PBOrIM/s1600/queue-selection.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGE8Zsy5MEnSsRFcgGHA5uRv8zziO2aMCS5VZEELFV464u1Bi9Nx5ylFJBwPXkvDvwD2g6Y-cAvrJ2DX2Qh-fIuaxJyeNeKBVAoEw87Daf9NI5c2IIO3E1wm8BUo4DZBkSb_yA8PBOrIM/s1600/queue-selection.png" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All/None checkbox on queue selection dialog.</td></tr></tbody></table><div><span style="text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="text-align: center;"><b>New questions appear behind active conversations.</b>  New chats can't "jump to the front of the line" by hijacking typing focus from a current chat. Incoming chat windows appear behind existing chat windows.</span><br /><span style="text-align: center;"><b style="text-align: start;"><br /></b></span><span style="text-align: center;"><b style="text-align: start;">Auto-reconnect</b><span style="text-align: start;">.  The webchat client does a better job of cleanly reconnecting after brief network dropouts. </span></span><br /><span style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: start;"><br /></span></span></div><div><b>Attention-grabbing disconnect alerts.</b>   When network problems totally disconnect you from our server, we'll alert you with the familiar "sonar ping" sound on a 30 second loop.  And if you have <a href="http://docs.libraryh3lp.com/clients-web.html#desktop-notifications" target="_blank">Desktop Notifications</a> enabled in Firefox or Chrome, you'll also receive a visual alert in the same style that you would for an incoming chat, even if you have the webchat client minimized or hidden behind other applications.</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZxXPLqnUyaClBjNgqB7-FX7djC88xMjbbzTVuuGLXUWmcaxED3Ai3ae_wBP8Pk2hYzIYU6CGT_40c0vnD8z9CeEa9gkUzYkXROKyGNUzoae04snB4ATRgqpanOZ6trQbyGc2fpV7swH4/s1600/disconnected-desktop.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZxXPLqnUyaClBjNgqB7-FX7djC88xMjbbzTVuuGLXUWmcaxED3Ai3ae_wBP8Pk2hYzIYU6CGT_40c0vnD8z9CeEa9gkUzYkXROKyGNUzoae04snB4ATRgqpanOZ6trQbyGc2fpV7swH4/s1600/disconnected-desktop.png" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Desktop alert above system tray showing disconnect.</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div><b>Character counter for SMS questions appears all the time</b>, not just when composing.  It's a bright orange 140 character countdown in the top right conversation window corner that only shows up for SMS messages.  The webchat client has had it since the beginning, but until now, it only showed up when the librarian was actively typing.  Now it is there all the time, as a <a href="http://docs.libraryh3lp.com/incoming-sms-appearance.html" target="_blank">further alert that you've got someone texting</a>, in addition to an optional special queue avatar.</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheROz1s92OCt84V1HnbgdSVH_M0awGEf3APYBAEb_mwDXfNAkDP2nhgclOLbgLJZTqE2qzB5aNCzHxbm_6Qtqq7w4I6pcf1DHpPuZqQYV7Q1TqwQ4ibBZtIqDMFfpyIkGx_TmmNOP6tpM/s1600/character-countdown.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheROz1s92OCt84V1HnbgdSVH_M0awGEf3APYBAEb_mwDXfNAkDP2nhgclOLbgLJZTqE2qzB5aNCzHxbm_6Qtqq7w4I6pcf1DHpPuZqQYV7Q1TqwQ4ibBZtIqDMFfpyIkGx_TmmNOP6tpM/s320/character-countdown.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Orange character countdown for SMS in top right corner. <br />This queue also has a special cell phone avatar for further<br />alerting that the patron is texting.</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></p>

Happy Monday! We've rolled out an updated version of our native webchat client . This release includes significant improvements that s...

LibraryH3lp mobile widgets are Boopsie compatible

<p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7B2xgjHr0wzM8ru4LwMD15HZgaQr5HwEjt7AbSLMnlb5o_hX7Hr06Ur0tcJr4UImej67hvqqgApPszbaTAcH7zmcnhoGhw-ldHX2HWW0Okk4d3Lh3rGeD4lqIQE87tvNqhMwNFLaAwMhP/s1600/boopsie_star_logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="101" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7B2xgjHr0wzM8ru4LwMD15HZgaQr5HwEjt7AbSLMnlb5o_hX7Hr06Ur0tcJr4UImej67hvqqgApPszbaTAcH7zmcnhoGhw-ldHX2HWW0Okk4d3Lh3rGeD4lqIQE87tvNqhMwNFLaAwMhP/s200/boopsie_star_logo.png" width="200" /></a></div>In a recent post, we talked a bit about how widgets have URLs. Just a quick follow-up for those of you thinking of or already using <a href="http://www.boopsie.com/" target="_blank">Boopsie</a>. Our <a href="http://docs.libraryh3lp.com/mobile-widget" target="_blank">mobile widgets</a> are Boopsie compatible!<br /><br />Do you use other products you'd like to see integrated with LibraryH3lp? Send us an <a href="https://mail.google.com/mail/?view=cm&fs=1&tf=1&to=support@libraryh3lp.com" target="_blank">e-mail</a> or leave a comment below and we'll see what we can do!</p>

In a recent post, we talked a bit about how widgets have URLs. Just a quick follow-up for those of you thinking of or already using Boopsie ...

New! In-place FAQ Editing

<p>Starting today, you can <a href="https://docs.libraryh3lp.com/faq-questions" target="_blank">edit your templates and FAQs directly in your FAQ site</a>. In-place editing provides good visual feedback and streamlines workflow. You can see changes instantly and make use of the powerful search feature to edit existing questions.  This update is in place on all LibraryH3lp servers and My Customer Cloud.<br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKlXGir6ad4mL2OjmY7vkXdlE_nqqLRpGHY9KnxTMgNJMjywCDSA6Ik7uscInynOVEplhFU-zDPXznUjHCJtHoocDcKGqAU-q-SCF0fb2wys6Uj0hIyF1hL_-Ovq135vZcF-r0FAgGH7f1/s1600/Screen+shot+2013-01-21+at+9.21.42+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKlXGir6ad4mL2OjmY7vkXdlE_nqqLRpGHY9KnxTMgNJMjywCDSA6Ik7uscInynOVEplhFU-zDPXznUjHCJtHoocDcKGqAU-q-SCF0fb2wys6Uj0hIyF1hL_-Ovq135vZcF-r0FAgGH7f1/s1600/Screen+shot+2013-01-21+at+9.21.42+AM.png" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">login icon</td></tr></tbody></table>To get started editing your <a href="http://docs.libraryh3lp.com/faq-intro" target="_blank">FAQ</a>, you'll need to login. Your FAQ site will pick up any existing login from the admin site or the webchat client. There is also a very small, subtle icon at the top right corner of your FAQ page that you can use to login. We went with subtle since you probably won't want your patrons to notice it.<br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3IYR2VQvjMGAuKOZQBRNkaVIpEbwz5-ZS-akJj7DkaxoT7gdCpnLKb919ktxuhjjpzMdvKw7AcJjxcpARzEnkLHxG1kb9lQQeiSAkMO33OwGn-wTdgPdn0N_g-pCf8g-QmB6ey6LK-rUY/s1600/Screen+shot+2013-01-21+at+9.27.24+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3IYR2VQvjMGAuKOZQBRNkaVIpEbwz5-ZS-akJj7DkaxoT7gdCpnLKb919ktxuhjjpzMdvKw7AcJjxcpARzEnkLHxG1kb9lQQeiSAkMO33OwGn-wTdgPdn0N_g-pCf8g-QmB6ey6LK-rUY/s1600/Screen+shot+2013-01-21+at+9.27.24+AM.png" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">edit & logout icons</td></tr></tbody></table>Once you're logged in, you'll see a small pencil icon in the top right  corner, along with a logout icon.  The pencil icon lets you turn on  editing mode. From there, you hover over portions of your FAQ site to see the edit controls for editing templates and content.<br /><br />There is more to come.  Soon, you'll have tools that will let you create additional FAQ sites within a single account.  You'll be able to have a mix of public-facing and authentication-required FAQs. And, you'll be able to fully manage user permissions.<br /><br />If you have any troubles editing your FAQ, want to create a new (or additional) FAQ, or want to change FAQ-wide settings (CNAME, theme, queue, e-mail, authentication required), please e-mail support.<br /><br /></p>

Starting today, you can edit your templates and FAQs directly in your FAQ site . In-place editing provides good visual feedback and streamli...

Did you know that your LibraryH3lp widget has its own URL?

<p>The most common ways of <a href="http://docs.libraryh3lp.com/putting-widget-on-page" target="_blank">embedding LibraryH3lp chat widgets on a web page</a> is via code snippets or iframes. But if you strip back all the HTML and JavaScript, a widget boils down to a simple URL.<br /><br /><a href="http://docs.libraryh3lp.com/customizing-widgets-by-hand" target="_blank">Widget URLs</a> take patrons to your Ask a Librarian service with a single click and may be more effective in boosting engagement than only advertising links to your Ask a Librarian page.<br /><br />Widget URLs follow this format on the main US server:<br /><ul><li>widget attached to a queue:<br />https://libraryh3lp.com/chat/<i>QUEUE-NAME</i>@chat.libraryh3lp.com</li><li>widget attached to a user*:<br />https://libraryh3lp.com/chat/<i>USERNAME</i>@libraryh3lp.com</li></ul><div><br />We auto-detect mobile devices and send them a <a href="http://docs.libraryh3lp.com/mobile-widget" target="_blank">mobile-friendly widget</a>, so you can tweet regular widget URLs to your patrons who are more likely to be on a smart device.  But, here are what our mobile widget URLs look like, in case you'd like to see them on a regular computer:</div><div><ul><li>mobile widget attached to a queue:<br />https://libraryh3lp.com/mobile/<i>QUEUE-NAME</i>@chat.libraryh3lp.com</li><li>mobile widget attached to a user*:<br />https://libraryh3lp.com/mobile/<i>USERNAME</i>@libraryh3lp.com</li></ul></div><div><br /></div><div>Widget URLs for regionals are very similar. Prepend the regional abbreviation (ca, eu, sg) to libraryh3lp.com in two places. An example for the Canadian regional server:<br /><br />https://ca.libraryh3lp.com/chat/<i>QUEUE-NAME</i>@chat.ca.libraryh3lp.com.</div><div><br /></div><div>And if you want to pimp out your widget, <a href="http://docs.libraryh3lp.com/customizing-widgets-by-hand" target="_blank">add some arguments</a> to your URL.<br /><br />*<span style="font-size: 85%;">Note: chats for specific users are treated as private conversations and are not logged, so they will not show up in Activity or Reports. They also can't be transferred. To provide logging and transfer capabilities for an individual, create a queue and assign only that one user to it.</span></div><div><br /></div></p>

The most common ways of embedding LibraryH3lp chat widgets on a web page is via code snippets or iframes. But if you strip back all the HTM...

New Tag for Followup email behavior

<p>We've simplified the 'Tag for Followup' feature in the webchat client, making it more fine-grained and easier to set up<sup>1</sup>.  This change is currently only live on the main US server; it is not yet on the regional servers in Canada, Europe, and Singapore.<br /><br />[Update Jan 23, 2012: This update is also now on the regional servers in Canada, Europe, and Singapore.]<br /><br />Quick feature review:  Tag for Followup facilitates later followup on questions that can't be answered during the chat session by e-mailing the chat transcript (along with optional note).<br /><br />The simplification lies in which email addresses are used.<br /><ul><li>The email address set for the queue (Queues tab in admin site) will receive Tagged messages, with one caveat. If the patron's chat widget specified a <a href="http://docs.libraryh3lp.com/profile-pages" target="_blank">profile</a> argument, then the email address for the profile's queue will be used <b>instead of </b>the queue's email.</li><li>The operator that clicks Tag for Followup will always receive a copy of a Tagged message, if that operator has an email address defined in the Users tab.  </li></ul><div><br /></div><div>To ease the transition to the new, easier method, we auto-populated queue emails system-wide.</div><ol><li>If the queue already had an email set, we left it alone.</li><li>If no queue email was available, we used the email set in the Users tab for the user that owned the queue.  </li><li>If no queue or queue owner email was available, we used the email set in the Users tab for the top-level admin user.  </li><li>If no queue, queue owner, or top-level admin email was available, we used the contact email from time of account registration.</li></ol><div><br />You can use the Queues tab in the admin site to view and change these pre-populated email addresses.  And, if we have auto-populated your queues with email addresses and you would prefer to start with a blank slate, please <a href="mailto:support@libraryh3lp.com" target="_blank">email our support account</a>; we can reset them to empty to save you some clicking. <br /><br />If you have a lot of queues and you're a bit of a power user, you might find it handy to use our <a href="https://dev.mycustomercloud.com/queues.html" target="_blank">API</a> to retrieve a list of your queues and associated settings.  You can retreive a list using your web browser.  First, login to the admin website with your top-level admin user.  Then, visit the following URL:  https://libraryh3lp.com/2011-12-03/queues<br /><br />Still to come: the ability to see which chats were Tagged for Followup in the Activity area.<br /><br /><sup>1</sup>Previously, Tag for Followup emailed the top-level admin user (typically this is the email account used to initially register the account) and any admin-equivalents.  It also emailed any email address provided in the user properties in the admin site for the queue owner AND the operator involved in the chat. </div></p>

We've simplified the 'Tag for Followup' feature in the webchat client, making it more fine-grained and easier to set up 1 . Thi...